Juwan Howard agrees to join Nets as assistant coach: Source

Juwan Howard is returning to the NBA. The former Michigan basketball head coach has agreed to join the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach, a source briefed on the deal confirmed Friday. ESPN first reported the news.

Howard was an assistant for the Miami Heat from 2013-19 before spending the last five years at Michigan. He was fired on March 15 after an 8-24 season with the Wolverines, including a 3-17 mark in the Big Ten Conference.

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The NBA life of Juwan Howard

An iconic figure at Michigan, Howard starred as one of the Fab Five and went on to play 19 seasons in the NBA. Michigan hired Howard in 2019 after John Beilein left to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers, and under Howard, the Wolverines achieved immediate success, including a Big Ten championship and a trip to the Elite Eight in his second season. However, after missing the NCAA Tournament last season, the Wolverines collapsed to last place in the Big Ten this year, losing 14 of their final 15 games.

Now Howard is expected to join recently hired Nets coach Jordi Fernández and his first staff. Brooklyn finished 32-50, 11th in the Eastern Conference, this past season. Fernández, a former Sacramento Kings associate head coach, was officially named the Nets’ coach on Monday after the team parted ways with Jacque Vaughn on Feb. 19.

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Howard’s NBA return isn’t a surprise

Howard’s return to NBA coaching comes as no surprise. The only question was when. The 51-year-old is coming off a tumultuous ending at Michigan after a season dictated in large part by a lengthy recovery from a serious heart surgery last offseason. In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic after his firing, Howard said he did not expect to return to coaching this season. Now he’s joining a Nets organization that missed out on the playoffs and is looking ahead to 2024-25.

“This is not the end, and it will not be the end-all, be-all of my coaching career,” Howard said in the March 27 interview.

In returning to the league, Howard will restart an NBA head-coaching pursuit that gained much traction prior to his move to Ann Arbor. As a Heat assistant, Howard interviewed for multiple NBA head-coaching gigs. He was in talks for an opening in Minnesota at the time he accepted the Michigan job.

Howard’s time at his alma mater began with so much promise, before ultimately faltering. He guided Michigan to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in his second season, leading to speculation he might jump for an NBA opening. By Year 5, his team’s 24 losses were the most in program history.

Howard’s son, Jett, played at Michigan and is a current member of the Orlando Magic. — Brendan Quinn, senior enterprise writer

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(Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)